The ramblings of a software engineer in Chicago trying to make it as a screenwriter.

Monday, December 30, 2013

A Bears Fan Perspective: What to expect if Lovie Smith becomes your head coach in 2014

This being Black Monday, the NFL has fired five head coaches. Add in the early December canning of Gary Kubiak and we're up to six vacancies.

While I think Lovie Smith shouldn't get one, he most certainly will.

Why?

Because there is a ton of out-of-town stupid when it comes to Lovie.

A big (and false) perception about Lovie Smith is that he was unfairly fired last season after going 10-6. Coaches don't get fired after posting a winning record. It had to be stupid Jay Cutler's stupid fault because he threw too many stupid interceptions. 2012 was the fifth time in six seasons the Bears failed to reach the playoffs. It was the second year in a row where they completely fell apart at the end of the season (what Lovie calls the 3rd and 4th quarter) after storming out of the gate. It was Lovie's fifth offensive coordinator and third since acquiring Jay Cutler. For fucks sake, Mike Tice was their offensive coordinator. Actually Tice was going to be the running coordinator and Jeremy Bates was going to be the passing coordinator. Tice of course wouldn't stand for this and he was made the OC and Bates the quarterbacks coach. Now ask yourself this:

What the fuck is a passing coordinator?

What other team in the NFL has a passing coordinator or a running coordinator? Not a one.

Welcome to a Lovie coached football team where you make sure you hire coaches less competent than you are and fire the good coaches to prevent them from ever taking your job.

Reports surfaced today that Lovie Smith is the leading candidate to replace Greg Schiano in Tampa Bay. Here is what Tampa Bay fans can expect if Lovie Smith does in fact become the new head coach of the Bucs.

1. An opportunistic and swarming defense which will give up big plays in crucial moments at the end of the game.
2. A merry-go-round of offensive coordinators and coaches who are incompetent.
3. Bone headed decisions when it comes to challenges.
4. Burning timeouts very early in games/half's because of incompetent coaches who can't call plays competently.
5. Arrogant and pompous press conferences filled with arrogance, pompousness and repetition.
6. You'll learn that it's not a 16 game season but four quarters. "We're 2-2 in the first quarter."
7. Bad offensive draft picks.
8. Bad early round defensive draft picks.
9. Refusing to take leads in games early by going for it on fourth down. (Sadly this seems to be a trend in the NFL)

Is Lovie Smith a good head coach? I think he's a great leader of men and a great defensive teacher from Monday through Saturday. On Sundays? Not so much. The Bears very rarely made adjustments in game which goes back to his arrogance and stubborness. They have a plan and they are sticking to it no matter what.

As the NFL dives face first toward becoming more the Arena League than the grid-iron gladiators of yesteryear it strikes me as odd that someone so inept at putting together an offensive staff would be considered for any head coaching position in this modern day NFL.

Perhaps I'm wrong and Lovie has learned from his year off. But I'm not wrong. If NFL GMs and owners were smart they would bring on Lovie as a defensive coordinator where he's meant to be and let him thrive there. Don't have him worry about timeouts or challenges and don't let him worry about the offense (which he doesn't anyway).